News Round Up 2016

[TheMaxRebo]

I've never understand why there is such a huge gap between DL and DCA. It's so much bigger than the gap between the Florida parks, yet it is RIGHT there, a 120 second walk away. I'd also argue it's a better, more complete park than any of the 3 in Florida at the moment. It certainly has more E tickets than any of those parks. Is it due to the locals? The locals obviously have access to both parks, but I guess if I lived there I would still be more likely to visit DL more often, whereas WDW has a lot of one timers or once a year people who are going to do all 4 parks every time.

That's a good point - especially with Cars Land and new WOC

 

[skier_pete]

I find the line “Disneyland is a symbol of luxury and creativity, a symbol of American culture, which is what the poorer die for,” interesting to see how other countries still look at the U.S. ... not sure "luxury and creativity" is what the current climate in our country is all about

The problem is the standard that has been set in America. The "struggling" middle class (as the media likes to put it) that complain how bad they have it - who have 2-3 cars, a $200,000 home, 4 computers, smart phones for their 9 year olds, annual vacations to Disney World, wives with between 50 and 100 pairs of shoes and 250 outfits in their closets, and go out to dinner as often as 5 times a week.

Yeah, I wonder why other countries see us a country of decadence and luxury.

 

[skier_pete]

I've never understand why there is such a huge gap between DL and DCA. It's so much bigger than the gap between the Florida parks, yet it is RIGHT there, a 120 second walk away. I'd also argue it's a better, more complete park than any of the 3 in Florida at the moment. It certainly has more E tickets than any of those parks. Is it due to the locals? The locals obviously have access to both parks, but I guess if I lived there I would still be more likely to visit DL more often, whereas WDW has a lot of one timers or once a year people who are going to do all 4 parks every time.

Well - two things I would say to that. "Park attendance" is counted by the first park that people go into for the day. Since DL gets much more crowded than DCA, I would say it's pretty common for people to start at DL and then hop over the DCA.
Second - a lot of attendance in California is the "after work" variety - AP holders that show up for a few hours in the evening. I would say those people are most likely to head for DL versus DCA by at LEAST a 2 to 1 margin.

The third reason is the most obvious - DCA is NOT a great park. You say you would argue it's better than 3 of the parks in Florida, but I would argue it's MAYBE marginally better than Hollywood Studios, and not even CLOSE to the other 3. Outside of RSR, Soarin, GRR, TSMM and California Screamin', the park just doesn't have a lot of "frequent repeat" rides (The Aladdin show would fall here - but it's no longer around). Sure there's LOTS of rides between Paradise Pier and Bugsland, but they are completely ho hum, and even the secondary Carsland rides are not really the "must do" variety. I never went there before Carsland/WOC, but I can't even imagine how worthless that park was before then. Even so, we spent 3 days there in February. We probably spent about 10 hours total in DCA, the rest in DL. And that's us not being frequent visitors on only our 3rd visit ever.

But I will point out that MK similarly does about DOUBLE each of the other 3 parks. The hard ticket events help this - but that's only 40 or so days a year. It says in all cases one park dominates.

 

[Budshark]

Well - two things I would say to that. "Park attendance" is counted by the first park that people go into for the day. Since DL gets much more crowded than DCA, I would say it's pretty common for people to start at DL and then hop over the DCA.
Second - a lot of attendance in California is the "after work" variety - AP holders that show up for a few hours in the evening. I would say those people are most likely to head for DL versus DCA by at LEAST a 2 to 1 margin.

The third reason is the most obvious - DCA is NOT a great park. You say you would argue it's better than 3 of the parks in Florida, but I would argue it's MAYBE marginally better than Hollywood Studios, and not even CLOSE to the other 3. Outside of RSR, Soarin, GRR, TSMM and California Screamin', the park just doesn't have a lot of "frequent repeat" rides (The Aladdin show would fall here - but it's no longer around). Sure there's LOTS of rides between Paradise Pier and Bugsland, but they are completely ho hum, and even the secondary Carsland rides are not really the "must do" variety. I never went there before Carsland/WOC, but I can't even imagine how worthless that park was before then. Even so, we spent 3 days there in February. We probably spent about 10 hours total in DCA, the rest in DL. And that's us not being frequent visitors on only our 3rd visit ever.

But I will point out that MK similarly does about DOUBLE each of the other 3 parks. The hard ticket events help this - but that's only 40 or so days a year. It says in all cases one park dominates.

And the point Pete forgot...

Disneyland has about double the rides of any other Disney park. Disneyland is a completely different park - the space is devoted to rides, not meet and greets, dining, or gift shops. Once you are past main street it's attraction after attraction. That is gonna draw a ton of people - although it won't have the margin return so we'll never see it duplicated again.

 

[Fantasia79]

News

China doesn't like Disney food prices...

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-shanghai-disney-food-adv-snap-story.html

Talk about other side of the world!

 

[pangyal]

Today in Disney history

Goofy turns 84 years old!

Star Wars the original turns 39.

Goofy was wearing a Happy Birthday pin at Tusker House today

 

[luisov]

The third reason is the most obvious - DCA is NOT a great park. You say you would argue it's better than 3 of the parks in Florida, but I would argue it's MAYBE marginally better than Hollywood Studios, and not even CLOSE to the other 3. Outside of RSR, Soarin, GRR, TSMM and California Screamin', the park just doesn't have a lot of "frequent repeat" rides (The Aladdin show would fall here - but it's no longer around). Sure there's LOTS of rides between Paradise Pier and Bugsland, but they are completely ho hum, and even the secondary Carsland rides are not really the "must do" variety. I never went there before Carsland/WOC, but I can't even imagine how worthless that park was before then. Even so, we spent 3 days there in February. We probably spent about 10 hours total in DCA, the rest in DL. And that's us not being frequent visitors on only our 3rd visit ever.

Well, it still has Soarin, Grizzly River, ToT, California Screamin, Radiator Springs, Little Mermaid, Midway Mania, Monsters Inc., Goofy's Sky School, Bug's, Aladdin, Turtle Talk, WoC, and a whole bunch of carnival rides. Considering it is the youngest American park, it has actually aged quite well, especially given the mess it used to be.

 

[rteetz]

Video

Full video of Shanghai's Ignite the Dream

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

Video

Full video of Shanghai's Ignite the Dream

Wow! That is an amazing show. Knowing the space WOC takes in DCA, I would love to see the Storybook Castle area and how they set up all those fountains. In other pictures I thought the area in front of the castle was tiered/ sectioned seating/viewing area. Is it weird that I'm disappointed so much of the show is in English? Absolutely ADORE that Mickey is the host for this show! I could hear the crowd buzz at various parts, especially when the Mulan sequence began, but holy cow! when Frozen sequence started, THAT reaction was incredible. I love being able to follow the development of this park in this Age of Information. Thank you for sharing the video.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Video

Full video of Shanghai's Ignite the Dream

Pretty cool - definitely has a feel of the latest WOC with Mickey interwoven with dissimlar parts

I thought the pirates part was cool and the Star Wars part with "laser blasts" coming out of the castle

Interesting that a lot of it was in Chinese (even California Surfer Crush) but Frozen was still in English

 

[rteetz]

News

Behind the scenes of Jungle Book Alive with Magic.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions...ions-for-the-jungle-book-alive-with-magic.htm

 

[a4matte]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a bit of a Maleficent story here. A version from Ursula's POV.

In the Little Mermaid musical they spun it around and made Ursula into her aunt, banished by Triton. Turning the whole thing into a family feud. While I'm not a big fan of that version of things, I can see them developing a version that paints Ursula as sympathetic and Aerial as simply being naive, with Triton being the problem with his hatred of humans.

That said, between Wicked and Maleficent (and a few others I'm bound to be forgetting), the genre of turning heels on their heads could easy get tiresome very quickly.

If they want to retain the music though, which I think they will, then they'll have to stick fairly close to the original story.

Ursula being Triton's sister was the original concept in the 1989 movie.
One of my big issues is that it seems every live action version of Ursula is skinny. She's a witch who is capable of transforming herself into other forms. She chooses to be a big lady, and judging by the way she presents herself in her song (example: the way she's looking at herself as she does her lipstick and puckers to the mirror and the whole "Body Language" part) she's pretty damn happy with her looks. STOP. MAKING. HER. SKINNY.

If they go through with the movie the whole thing will be a complete CGI overkill. I'm can't stand some of the recent movies because of it - Alice, Oz, etc. Maleficent at least had what felt like a better balance, but just barely. Making a good chunk of the movie look like it's underwater while adding a fish tail to the actress? Yeah... no thanks.

 

[disneymath]

News

Behind the scenes of Jungle Book Alive with Magic.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions...ions-for-the-jungle-book-alive-with-magic.htm

More excited to see this now! (If it's meant to be, RoL will be there next time.)

 

[jaxonp]

Wow, Disney is really putting a lot into this last minute show or was it really a last minute show. New bardes, a new score thats being recorded, dancers... Very interesting.

 

[jade1]

Well, it still has Soarin, Grizzly River, ToT, California Screamin, Radiator Springs, Little Mermaid, Midway Mania, Monsters Inc., Goofy's Sky School, Bug's, Aladdin, Turtle Talk, WoC, and a whole bunch of carnival rides. Considering it is the youngest American park, it has actually aged quite well, especially given the mess it used to be.

Yet TSM at DHS (with 1/4 the rides?) average wait time is about 15 minutes, and TSM at DCA is 35 to 40 minutes.

 

[dlavender]

The problem is the standard that has been set in America. The "struggling" middle class (as the media likes to put it) that complain how bad they have it - who have 2-3 cars, a $200,000 home, 4 computers, smart phones for their 9 year olds, annual vacations to Disney World, wives with between 50 and 100 pairs of shoes and 250 outfits in their closets, and go out to dinner as often as 5 times a week.

Yeah, I wonder why other countries see us a country of decadence and luxury.

Don't want to stray this thread OT, but I gotta call this out.....

Upper middle class, as portrayed above, is not the "struggling"middle class that is being talked about. Don't have percentages in front of me, but this portion of middle class is not the majority. The majority is represented below, or even worse off....

ETA: Middle Class households start at $28500 income per year. They aren't living in 200k houses with 5 closets full of shoes and electronics.

It's more the 80k household that has 2 used cars with high student loan debt that cooks at home, and their 80k buys them less and less each year......and not talking about shoes.

Still better than most countries' standard of poor, but still your representation is a tad off.

Back to the news!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

News

Behind the scenes of Jungle Book Alive with Magic.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions...ions-for-the-jungle-book-alive-with-magic.htm

Looks good! Hope people give it a fair shake and don't just view it as "back-up ROL"

 

[rteetz]

News

A look inside the new DVC member lounge

https://twitter.com/attractions/status/735845382589153281

https://twitter.com/laughing_place/status/735842207077412864

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

News

A look inside the new DVC member lounge

https://twitter.com/attractions/status/735845382589153281

Awkward.....

Is that all? A room with some chairs?

I don't even see any Disney accents, Hidden Mickeys, or anything fun. That could be a conference room in the Louvre, but it doesn't look Disney.
I wasn't expecting Club 33, but is that really all they give to DVC Owners? I guess it's a step up from having nothing.

 

[rteetz]

Awkward.....

Is that all? A room with some chairs?

I don't even see any Disney accents, Hidden Mickeys, or anything fun. That could be a conference room in the Louvre, but it doesn't look Disney.
I wasn't expecting Club 33, but is that really all they give to DVC Owners? I guess it's a step up from having nothing.

There is Disney infinity play areas, and coke free style machines.